By My Side
by lil-hermione-at-heart
Summary: Listen to Always On Your Side by Sheryl Crow Hermione is having trouble convincing Harry that she will not leave him to fight the Final Battle alone, so to prove her point, she confesses her loyalty to a song.


Chapter One- Always On Your Side

Hermione growled in frustration as she had it out with Harry…again. He had woken to the thought of the final battle and how many were going to be hurt. He once again refused to let her come with him, as he always did. Hermione refused to let him stop her. 'He meant to much to her' she would always say, but he never fully understood how true that was.

Now Hermione was sitting in her bedroom of the head dorms, thinking.

_"How could Harry be so stubborn?"_

"_He's always been stubborn…"_

"_True, but he is my best friend, I'm supposed to help him."_

"_Yes, but you want him as more than a friend. Don't let that influence you."_

"_Shut up."_

Hermione argued with herself for a while, causing a bit of a headache.

Meanwhile, back in Harry's room, Harry was having the same problem…

"_Ugh how can she be so resisting?"_

"_It's Hermione."_

"_Well, yes I know that but, I don't want her to get hurt or…or killed!"_

"_Because you love her…"_

"_No, because she's my best friend!"_

"_That you love…"_

"_Shut up."_

After giving up on convincing himself otherwise, he too had quite the headache. Either way he couldn't let Hermione go with him to the final battle. He cared about her too much, love or not. Although the love part made it a strong will to not let her go.

He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, deciding to take a long bath. He walked into the bathroom, and then stopped. He starred at the door on the opposite side, knowing that Hermione was just beyond it. He walked up to it, leaned his head against the door, listening to hear what she was doing. But, all he could hear was her occasional sigh, and the ruffling of her sheets.

He walked over to the swimming pool sized tub and switched on all the faucets. The tub filled quickly with warm water and bubbles. He stripped off his clothes and gently lowered himself in.

Hermione laid on her bed as thoughts flew through her mind. Harry was the love of her life, and she knew it for sure. But, the problem with that was, he didn't know. And she was sure he didn't return the feelings.

She sighed again as she rolled onto her side, thinking again of how to tell him. She had made up her mind to tell him, but didn't know how. Soon enough, an idea came to her; one that would kill two birds with one stone.

She paced a bit, thinking about how this was gonna go out and what Harry would do. She decided she just needed to just get it all out. Otherwise it was going to drive her to insanity. She sighed as she settled on the thought that this was a good idea, but still not sure how Harry was going to react.

She grabbed her favorite book, just for comfort. Then quickly disillusioning the book and herself, she snuck into the bathroom and walked over next to the tub. She sat on the corner, watching Harry swim around.

After watching him for a good 10 minutes, Hermione showed herself. Harry jumped when she appeared. He looked at her face, which was down with sadness and longing. She reached over and grabbed the still invisible book and made to leave when Harry stopped her.

"Hermione."

"Yeah," she said, not turning around.

"What…what was that all about?" he asked, showing his confusion.

"It…it's nothing Harry. I'll see you in the morning," she said as she continued walking away.

"No, it's not nothing," he said as he stood and quickly wrapped a towel around himself. "If it was nothing, you wouldn't have done this. Now explain."

He walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. When she turned around and caught the sight of him in a towel, her breath caught in her throat.

"_Ok breathe Hermione, just breathe," _ she coached herself.

"Come on, out with it," Harry said grinning, realizing the effect his bare torso had on her.

"_Alright, now or never."_ "Well, what I mean is…" she paused.

"Yes?" Harry said, trying to egg her on.

"I mean that I…I…I love you Harry and I'm not going to let you go into this battle alone, no matter what you say or what happens with us or anything. It's just not happening. You mean too much to me and now I hope you understand the full meaning of that saying. You are the love of my life no matter if you return the feelings or not, I just simply love you. Although love is not a simple subject, mind you, but I do, I simply love you. I can't change it, you can't change it, Ron can't change it, and no one can. I love you Harry Potter, even if it means dealing with your stubbornness and charm, but I love you." Hermione said it all so fast that she didn't even realize what she was saying. Once what she had said had caught up with her, she threw her hands over her mouth and blushed furiously, in the process dropping the book on Harry's foot.

Harry's face cringed in pain as he hopped on one foot until he fell over. Hermione squealed, ran over to him and dropped on her knees next to him as she apologized frantically.

"Oh Harry I'm so so so sorry, I didn't mean to drop that on your foot. Oh I'm so sorry!" she said quickly.

"Hermione, Hermione calm down, it's alright. Just hurt a bit is all," Harry said, sitting up and grinning.

When Hermione looked up, her eyes caught his, holding his gaze. Slowly, their faces inched closer and closer until they could feel each other's breath on their own face. Then, as if in slow motion, their lips touched in an earth-shaking kiss. After a few moments, the two pulled apart, not daring to believe that really had just happened. As their eyes slowly open to reveal the other's face, they both smiled.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to do that," Harry said.

"Ditto," Hermione added as she put her hand on the back of his head, pulled him closer and kissed him again.


End file.
